List of no-action attacks.Dynamic vs Static BonusesPhalanx tactics and buildsCrivens! A Pictsies GuideGood
Powers to intentionally miss withMr. Cellophane: How to be unnoticedWay's to fire around cornersCrits: what their really worthRetroactive bonus vs Static bonus.Runepriest handbook & discussion threadHoly Symbols to hang around your neckWays to Gain or Downgrade ActionsList of bonuses to saving throwsThe Ghost with the Most (revenant handbook)

Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square.

Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong.

Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked.

Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic.

Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation.

Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses.

Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. One of THE most abusive character in 4e.

Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof.

Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it.

Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways.

In AD&D, the rule on page 71 is that all players declare their actions together at the beginning of the round, without delay or discussion. If they stall or dither or discuss, their characters lose the same amount of time in-game, standing around doing nothing or talking to each other in the middle of melee.

List of no-action attacks.Dynamic vs Static BonusesPhalanx tactics and buildsCrivens! A Pictsies GuideGood
Powers to intentionally miss withMr. Cellophane: How to be unnoticedWay's to fire around cornersCrits: what their really worthRetroactive bonus vs Static bonus.Runepriest handbook & discussion threadHoly Symbols to hang around your neckWays to Gain or Downgrade ActionsList of bonuses to saving throwsThe Ghost with the Most (revenant handbook)

Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square.

Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong.

Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked.

Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic.

Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation.

Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses.

Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. One of THE most abusive character in 4e.

Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof.

Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it.

Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways.

AD&D was tough. I like that it had so many charts and tables. There was a chart in the survival guide to depict the odds that your fire got out of control and set fire to your camp for example.

Now you want to talk about modifiers, your armor changed by temperature and a slew of other factors. Oh, and crossbow bolts were awesome! Water combat? It's covered in there with modifers to your weapons and armor.

My friend sat down with me yesterday and we looked through some of that stuff. It has really changed my attitude about some things I have heard of 5E. If anyone gets a chance to, check out the AD&D Survival Guide for a good time.

ok back to D3 Barbarians Rule!

Concisely: I want a system where players don't have to pick between mechanics and roleplaying. I hope 5E fails asap so a better system can be made asap.

( I can't believe what they did to the forums. The sterile lack or color is rather depressing. )

You could get rid of attack rolls (particularly against monsters 4 or more levels below the character).

I would suggest instead that you simplify multitarget attacks by making one attack roll for all targets together.

If I recall, you and I were both involved in a forum discussion on another thread about getting rid of damage rolls and making damage for each weapon/spell/monster attack a constant. That could also speed up combat, since a hit is guaranteed to do a certain amount of damage.

You could get rid of attack rolls (particularly against monsters 4 or more levels below the character).

I would suggest instead that you simplify multitarget attacks by making one attack roll for all targets together.

If I recall, you and I were both involved in a forum discussion on another thread about getting rid of damage rolls and making damage for each weapon/spell/monster attack a constant. That could also speed up combat, since a hit is guaranteed to do a certain amount of damage.

List of no-action attacks.Dynamic vs Static BonusesPhalanx tactics and buildsCrivens! A Pictsies GuideGood
Powers to intentionally miss withMr. Cellophane: How to be unnoticedWay's to fire around cornersCrits: what their really worthRetroactive bonus vs Static bonus.Runepriest handbook & discussion threadHoly Symbols to hang around your neckWays to Gain or Downgrade ActionsList of bonuses to saving throwsThe Ghost with the Most (revenant handbook)

Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square.

Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong.

Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked.

Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic.

Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation.

Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses.

Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. One of THE most abusive character in 4e.

Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof.

Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it.

Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways.

Nice list. I've put your points in bold, and added my own thoughts...."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true">Reduce the hit points of enemies.This is a good one, and something I do already in 4E. But I think it is only a big issue because each individual turn takes too long. So while I do think monsters in 4E have too many hit points, finding a way to make each turn faster will help more.

One action per round, turns come faster, and players pay attention.I don't think reducing to one action is a good idea. It has come up before, and a very legitimate concern is that it removes any incentive to move. Moving effectively wastes your turn. Take a melee fighter for example. He goes first and moves up to an orc. The orc can now either attack (getting an advantage of first strike) or move away, forcing the fighter to use another action on its turn to move back. Opportunity attacks could prevent this, but that also means there would be no way to safely disengage.

Don't roll damage rolls, take the average, and round up.Can be an option for your group, but most players love to roll. They would much rather take the extra time to roll dice.

A turn timer can speed player's up.Only if your players like it. For some, the added pressure will make the game less fun.If a player delays, they use an at-will automatically.Delay as in the action, or delay as in "has trouble deciding what to do"?Limit players to one kind of interrupt for their character.I think limiting out of turn actions is a good idea to speed things up.

Limiting actions to Standard, Free, and Opportunity.As I said above, I think move actions have a place in the game too.

Increasing damage for pcs. ( my personal favorite)Goes hand-in-hand with lowering monster hp. The real issue here is "How many hits, on average, should it take to kill a monster?" In 4E the number was set at 4, in theory. I found that at higher levels this no longer held true, at least for my group. And even at lower levels, I don't really like it taking 4 hits to bring down a goblin. There is too much difference between a minion who dies from even the tiniest hit, and a regular goblin that takes 4 hits.

Lower defenses on minions and soldiers.As with the question above, the game must decide on an expected accuracy. If accuracy is too high, attack rolls become meaningless. Conversely, if accuracy is too low, fights become tedious. Assuming stats in D&D next work as they do in 4E, I think the sweet spot is hitting on an 9 with an 18 in your primary stat. This allows those with a 16 to still hit more than 50%, and even those with only a 14 have a 50% accuracy. It also keeps gaining advantage in combat very important.I'm also in favor of giving all attacks something that happens even on a miss, to take some of the sting off.

Digitize miniatures with macros and combat tracking.This is a good thing to have, but shouldn't be required for fast combat. D&D should be playable using just a piece of paper, pencil, and some dice.

Encourage focus fire by giving damage bonuses on targets who were already hit that round.For just PCs, or for monsters too? I don't think this is needed. I would rather focus fire not always be the best strategy.

Don't make encounters with level +3 creatures.Flattening the math helps with this. If a level +3 monster no longer has defenses and attacks 3 points higher, it is much easier to use monsters in a wide level range.

Perform save rolls at the time of affliction and use counters to track.In terms of effects that get worse with each failed save? I think that takes the fear out of the effect. When a character has an effect that could kill them if they fail another save, it makes everyone need to help out. Perhaps the fighter needs to move across the battlefield to cover the cleric so he can go over and give you a saving throw. But if you know that your next save is a success because you already rolled it, there is no more fear of uncertainty.Using counters to track is a good idea.

Appropriate music can focus players on the game. (does anyone have a grooveshark playlist to recommend?)Background music is a good idea. It should be just loud enough to fill a silence, but not too loud to make it hard to hear people talk.

Perform any rolls you can while people aren't waiting on you. Only if you have complete trust in your group. I know from studies that a lot of people cheat given the opportunity. And cheating here goes beyond something as overt as changing the die roll. It can be as simple as saying you always intended to use your big power when you roll that 20.As with some of the other issues, I don't think the time it takes to roll is the real big issue here. The big issues are action paralysis and the committee effect.Action paralysis occurs when players have too many choices. At low levels in 4E, you only have 4 attack powers. So your choices in battle are simple: use your big gun attack, use your go-to encounter power, use one of your at-wills, or try something not covered by powers. By level 10 you have three times as many encounter powers and daily powers, as well as 3 utility powers. Add in options from feats and magic items and the list gets quite huge. Solving this simply requires removing the number of preset options given out. THe committe effect is what is described in the link you gave in the original post. When a player needs to clear things by the group before doing something even as simple as pushing a monster 2 squares, you have the committee effect. When a player's announcement of what they will do is met with 5 different suggestions, you have the committee effect. Solving this is a simple matter of setting table rules.

Don't allow ..... let's just say some classes aren't good for group focus fire, and leave it at that.Again, focus fire shouldn't be the only successful option in combat. If it is, then just make it the only option in combat. If it is needed, make it mandatory. Players pick a target and everyone must attack it until it is dead.I think it is better to have focus fire be just one option, rather than something that is needed.Bump slow effects to immobilize.How would this speed up combat?

Make quick-sticks for measuring square distances faster and easier forplayers.Using dungeon tiles actually helps for this. I know the size of the different tiles, and so I can make a quick count based on that.

Use one attack and damage roll for all AOE targets. (maybe add a bonus to hit)This makes them into all or nothing powers, and I don't think I like that. Again, I don't think the act of rolling is what makes the battle take a long time.

Memorize the PHB pages 264-293 by memory. Shouldn't be needed to play. People with bad memory should also be able to play the game. I think a better idea is to make the rules as intuitive as possible. This not only helps people remember them, but also enables DMs to feel more confident making rulings about things that come up without looking up the exact rule.

DMs, review the DMG chapter 4. See above.

Have the DM rule the game during play, dispute rules at another time.Yes. 1000 times yes. Very little slows down game play and destroys the mood than taking 5 minutes to dig out a book and look up a rule.

Have all players declare their actions together at the beginning of the round. Player delay translates to in game delay.I think this would serve to slow things down, because it plays right into the committee effect. Each round would be a giant discussion about who was going to do what, and how that would intereact with the actions of everyone else. Far better to just watch the battle unfold and plan your action accordingly. The players who tend to be the slowest are the ones who don't pay attention during other people's turns. This means that when it is their turn, they are effectively seeing the battlefield for the first time. They need to take the time to study how everything has changed before even starting to think of possible actions. Conversely, those who pay attention at all times are also thinking about what they could do in response. For example, when I play, here is what I could be thinking, "Nice, the wizard pushed those guys into a group. Maybe I will toss my alchemist's fire at them. Hmm...ok, two of them moved away, I think instead I'll head over and flank with the rogue. Nevermind, the cleric had the same idea. Uh oh, those two guys are moving up to attack the wizard." Then it is my turn, and I can quickly say, "I'm moving up to help the wizard."

Party initiative can keep the players focused.How does it keep the players focused more than individual initiative?

You really need to split this list into two areas: rules and DM/Player managmentMany of your ideas include DM/Player controls specifically that could be done right now in the current edition and shouldn't really be topics of discussion. Ex. Perform any rolls you can while people aren't waiting on you. Some of the others could be inclusions to the rules, or separate products entirely like the 'measuring stick'.

There is a game called Diplomacy, it is similar to Risk, but there are no rolls in it.

I really like it. The core concept is that you designate where all your troops will go, and your opponent does the same. Battles are won and lost stricktly by the numerical advantages that your strategies yield to you rather than dice rolling.

Unfortunately, the game always took longer than Risk for my friends and I. However, winning was that much more rewarding.

Concisely: I want a system where players don't have to pick between mechanics and roleplaying. I hope 5E fails asap so a better system can be made asap.

( I can't believe what they did to the forums. The sterile lack or color is rather depressing. )

I've played both Risk and Diplomacy and I like your analogy. I think the randomness of the dice give players an incentive to do things instead of just sitting around the board like a chess player, calculating all the possible moves.

The players in game this past Wednesday got through four combats worth 2800xp at 100xp each approximately.

4 players

I threw 5 rune traps that shoot each round at them first as they entered the cave.

followed up by 7 soldiers and a controller

2 controllers 2 soldiers 2 brutes

and lastly 1 controller 3 soldiers 3 brutes

The players were level 6,7,7,8

I had the players roll initiative against the monsters, but all the players went in a row. I let them pick their order for the player's turn for the rest of the encounter. Everyone remembered when they had their turn. It was magnificient.

Best session I ever had or saw.

One of the players even set snares to help in one of the combats.

We were playing on maptools so there are some things that make rolling dice faster and some make them slower.

We played from 8pm to 11pm. Normally I am lucky to get through 2 encounters in that time period.

Also surprisingly for me, they dinked around in town for almost the first hour. I had the macros on the enemies along with the hp and defences so they could see them. They could adjust their health while the rest of us moved to the next turn.

There might be some exaggerating, but it was awesome how fast it went.

Concisely: I want a system where players don't have to pick between mechanics and roleplaying. I hope 5E fails asap so a better system can be made asap.

( I can't believe what they did to the forums. The sterile lack or color is rather depressing. )

I find the biggest delay is simply indecision. People stare at the board for 5 minutes before making their move. It's like watching a chess match.

The second biggest is dice rolls.

If you can get your group around those obsticals, the game's down to 30 seconds a turn, 5 minute rounds, and 30 minute battles.

What I often tell new players that go through this stage is, "You have everyone else's turn to figure out what you're doing. By your turn, you should be ready to do it."

Here is reality, read and understand: Rangers aren't dull or underpowered, in any edition. Fighters aren't dull or underpowered, in any edition. Casters aren't "god mode" or overpowered, in any edition. The tarrasque isn't broken. And you aren't voicing your opinion by claiming otherwise, you're just being a pain. Now, stop complaining. Color me flattered.